Blumenthal starts blog; will discuss workforce grants
By Mary Mosquera
Monday, November 23, 2009
Dr. David
Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health IT, will unveil details Tuesday
about new grants his office will make available to help strengthen the health
IT workforce, the Health and Human Services Department said today.
HHS also
announced the launch of a blog through which consumers, providers, policymakers
and technology experts can share ideas and concerns about health
information technology with Blumenthal and his team.
The blog – dubbed the Health IT Buzz -- is up and
available here. In his maiden post, Blumenthal noted that in addition to give the public a
chance to air its views, he will use the blog as a listening device.
“Listening
is critical because there is no predicting when the most intriguing thoughts
and advice will pop to the surface,” Blumenthal wrote.
“It could
be in a hallway conversation, in testimony before an advisory committee, or in
an email. It could also be on a
blog. This is why we are launching
the Health IT Buzz blog today.”
Comments
about building a workforce that understands health IT and its importance will no doubt be a part the
conversation. HHS said Blumenthal will announce details Nov. 23 about funding
one of the cornerstones of that effort: a set of regional health IT training
centers to help providers integrate health IT into their business and clinical
practices.
Last week, deputy national coordinator Dr. Charles
Friedman also discussed building up the health IT workforce in remarks before the National
Committee on Vital and Health Statistics.
ONC has been developing a strategy for building up such a
workforce according to roles and competencies identified at an ONC-sponsored
technical workshop in August, he said.
The
August workshop focused “on those roles that might take six months or fewer of
training for a health IT worker to be capable of being helpful in the field,”
Friedman said.
An ONC
draft document details roles for which six months of training might be adequate
as well as a preliminary set of competencies for each role. The roles
identified by the ONC include
clinician consultant, implementation manager, practice workflow and information
management redesign specialist, along with technical support and trainers.
